Had some small fixes that I wanted to get patched in before pushing live, but ended up with a busy weekend and a gale that kept my up all night last night! Assuming there's nothing that needs immediate attention, I'm again looking to push this patch live tomorrow. It mostly addresses some small bug fixes, but also includes a number of updates to the player animations.

Character controllers are a tricky business, and I have neglected ours for a long time. Still very much a work in progress, I've updated most of the armed and unarmed animation as well as blended them all together rather than the twitchy immediate changes we've had up until now. I've also updated some of the bow animations, but some of the backwards and strafing movements are still pretty bad. I also need to work on swimming as well as combat animation in general.

v 0.7.2.0 2021.02.23
- Updated and blended a number of player animations (WIP)
- Removed combat stance timing out to idle. Instead equipped weapon and whether it's sheathed or not is used to determine animations.
- Added a Goblin Dungeon map icon
- Fixed water, fire, and tannin font recipes not showing up

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.

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I'm looking to push this patch and all the recent changes to the live public build tomorrow if all seems well after simmering on beta for a day.

First off in today's patch are enchanted torches:



These special, currently wall only, torches have a settings interface that will let you specify their color, range, and intensity. I wanted some of these components for use in procedural content like the goblin dungeons, and so just extended things a bit and built an interface with some customizable "preset" color slots, and so forth.

I've also added breathing potions and "light range" potions to the alchemy tree. Breathing potions are pretty self-explanatory, and the light range potion applies a buff with a new stat called "light range". This increases the range of the player's light aura, brightening up a larger area either at night, underwater, or in caves, for example.

I've also fixed a few small problems that had been bothering me like procedural areas turning on and off repeatedly when you cross back and forth over a distance threshold. This happens very often at the starting platform because it is spawned right in the corner of 4 areas. Areas to be marked for despawn will now have 1 extra unit of allowed distance (128m) than areas being marked to spawn to prevent that. Grass not joining together properly at the seams causing long straight bald lines to appear every 128m has also been repaired.

I've already started working on the character controller and animations, something I've been putting off for a long time that is very a common issue with players that leave a negative review here on Steam. It's almost midnight here, but even after just a couple hours of working on it it's already looking a lot better. I've only updated the out-of-combat movement animations though and it was too late to export the changes into this patch. All-in-all I think I've no other choice but to buy some better animations for the combat stance as the running caveman animations I'm using right now just don't do anyone any good.

Updating the controller and animations is the first of several "presentation" upgrades I want to make over the next few patches, as I've really only focused on "features" for a long time, and the poor presentation of them is turning away players and press that otherwise might find a quite enjoyable game. I'll be looking to finally implement some lore and am in the processes of consulting with some peers on UI improvements for which I've already garnered some great advice.

Thanks as always to everyone joining in for early access, and a special thanks to all of my Patreon supporters!

v 0.7.1.9 2021.02.19
- Added a "Light Range" potion that increases the range of the players light aura
- Added a breathing potion that allows breathing under water
- Added console commands for resource spawn rates, though they should not be used unless necessary
- Added enchanted torches with color, intensity, and range controls
- Glowing mushrooms in caves are now harvestable
- Increased the "area" despawn distance by 1 to prevent repeated spawn/despawn when walking back and forth over threshholds
- Brightened underwater fog (WIP)
- Fixed turning all the cave resource spawn settings to max causing iron and copper to become unable to spawn
- Fixed grass "areas" not overlapping properly, leaving obvious gaps

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.

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One lesser know aspect of creative mode finally gets a button in this patch. The item editor allows you to create most types of items, except for potions and sockets, and then even upload them to the Steam Workshop for Solace Crafting. I've also fixed a couple of small problems that were preventing structures subscribed to via the Steam Workshop from showing up in game via the building / load / workshop tab. I'm hoping to add a preview screenshot capability for uploading to the Steam Workshop as well.

Tomorrow I'm looking to add a couple of new building customization tools that will hopefully make for even more interesting uploads.

This patch also adds an empty button to monster drops, tombstones, and monoliths, as well as a fill button to chests.

v 0.7.1.7 2021.02.16
- Added an "Item Editor" button to the main UI in Creative mode
- Added "Empty" and "Fill" buttons to chests / tombstones / loot
- Added new icons for not yet updated enchant sockets
- Fixed workshop subscribed buildings not listing / loading properly
- Fixed saved structure load placement doubling the placement height modifier (Q/E)
- Fixed strong harvesting skills not working on elemental stones
- Fixed the new Armor and Alchemy recipes on the skill trees from leveling up beyond level 5
- Fixed socket icons not loading properly in storage chests and bags

I've been working on cleaning out old files and improving some of the data structures that manage enchants and skills in particular. This patch rearranges some of the skill trees and moves the 3 starting armor types, cloth, leather, and metal, to the skill trees, using the updated item template system instead of hard coded recipes. I'm still a bit on the fence whether these work better entirely on the skill trees, or if maybe the first level of them each should be awarded to new characters for free. We'll try it out though and see how things feel.

Also, due to popular demand, I've added a deconstruction bench, that allows old gear to be broken down into some of its original components. Only resources such a lumber and metal can be recovered in this way, and only half of them rounded down will be rewarded. Items that do produce returns due to the previous two rules will be ignored by the bench.

v 0.7.1.6 2021.02.14
- Added deconstruction bench
- Moved armor sets to skill trees
- Removed up a variety of scripts, textures, and models no longer in use
- Fixed a number of harmless errors printing to console/log during startup

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.

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I had to put out a small hotfix for some long standing fog/cloud/weather timing and color issues that were amplified by last nights patch causing flickering at certain times of the day. All in all this smooths out a few different problems that were present with the light/color timings, and instant weather changes and some things.

I generally stick to 1-2 topics to work on, making "passes" at different systems that need improvement or work. I hadn't touched weather lightning/clouds/fog in a long time, and it is looking a lot better now with just a bit of work. Still not the desired end result where I want to program an entirely dynamic weather system, which won't be difficult, it's just hard to justify prioritizing something like that when there's so much to do. Glad with the outcome of these unanticipated repairs though.

v 0.7.0.26 2021.02.11
- Improved weather/fog/cloud coloring
- Fixed weather flickering

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

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A small patch for some of the most recent fixes.

I've been working on beta and the default branch simultaneously, but wanted to get these latest fixes up first. The biggest noticeable difference is with the fog. Apparently the main fog shader was being stripped from the build entirely, even though it was working properly on my end. This also adds a semi-bright fog to caves which makes them quite a bit easier to look at. I also fixed the math causing a variety of a cave resources to rotate improperly into their walls.

More to follow shortly!

v 0.7.0.25 2021.02.10
- Updated fullness/hydration for most items
- Fixed signs not working in multiplayer
- Fixed town recipes not properly checking against building rank
- Fixed non-sky fog not working
- Fixed not being able to drink from equipped watering cans
- Fixed crafting experience not being rewarded in creative mode
- Fixed a variety of cave items/resources rotating improperly into the walls

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

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This (beta) patch brings in a lot of new potions, potions with lasting buffs, and sockets.



Sockets replace the current system of enchants which used to be "magic" cast onto an item, with new socketable/removeable objects. One of the main goals for this is the add sockets that are not necessarily magical enchantments, for example weapon attachments, armor upgrades, etc. I don't yet have new icons setup for all of the new sockets, so some of them are temporarily using their enchant icons, but I will add unique icons for each of them.

This is all part of a movement to add a variety of new recipes into the game as well as to the skill trees and town buildings, a variety of which still have no or very little unlocks on them. This patch also moves a number of "known by default" recipes to now require unlocking via the alchemy and masonry trees, along with upgrades to the related systems to support such functionality. As a result of this profession unlocks have been forcibly reset and points should be automatically refunded requiring only that you respend them in whatever way you see fit.

I am continuing work on adding more recipes and can now begin to add more socketable recipes in particular to the Tailoring, Leatherworking, and Masonry skill trees.

Have a good idea for a drop, ingredient, potion, set enchant, or socket? By all means, please join in the discussion on Discord. The game already has a built-in and largely automatic import system for inputting custom enchants as well as items (along with the item creation interface accessible via the "i" key in creative mode (my apologies some of these things aren't better presented in a clearer manner)) that I plan to make easier to access and understand in hopes that the community can help out in designing actually in-game content.

v 0.7.1.5 2021.01.29
- Added new potions
- Potions can now give buffs
- Updated fullness/hydration for most items
- Enchants are now sockets, insertable and removeable from equipment
- Cleared caves will no longer spawn monsters in single-player
- Fixed a bug not properly displaying the bonuses of set enchants
- Fixed the sort buttons in the solace travel UI not greying on/off properly
- Fixed the possibility of respawning cave resources adding rarity icons to the overworld map

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.

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I had to upgrade the way potions are handled quite a bit, but now the system is mostly ready to take on any and all new types of potions. For starters I've expanded the old health, energy, and mana potions to now have minor, normal, and major forms, all of which are unlocked via the alchemy skill tree. They also now also require a single stalk, which is used to determine their rarity, meaning they can now also be crafted at rarities higher than common. In order to gain alchemy skill points starting out, tannin has also been removed as a drop from trees, and is now instead an alchemy recipe that is known by default.

I've also added attack, damage, and death sounds to the 3 new types of goblins in the goblin dungeons, as well as given each of them a special type of loot... Now that I think about it, some of the loot is not set up as intended, I left it in a bit in "test mode," but these drops will open up opportunities for more enchants and potions to be added in.

I've also added 4 new buttons to the start screen: Twitch, Patreon merchandise, and tipping. Twitch is just a link to my Twitch channel, where I stream development live Tuesday-Friday. Patreon is a subscription based site designed to allow people to support content creators. The merchandise page is a work in progress, but has some hooded t-shirts, t-shirts, a mug, and a mousepad for now, all of which I get a cut for each sale. The tipping page is simply that, a way for people to offer one-time monetary support via credit card or PayPal, of which 100% goes to Big Kitty Games, none being gobbled up by the host site Streamlabs, which is the software that I use to stream. Of course none of these things are mandatory, and provide no benefit in-game, they're just good to have as options, as some people are better off financially than others, and are capable of supporting development they agree with directly, if a simple way to do so exists. In short, please don't hate me, I need money to survive too, and some people really are very generous such as our lovely Patreon supporters! Which really does help out very much.

It's a bit tough to come up with new loot and new potions to be honest, all ideas are welcome! I've got a lot of general "Strength Potion" and "Breathing Potion" and things like that lined up for tomorrow.

v 0.7.1.4 2021.01.20
- Added links to Twitch, Patreon, merchandise, and tipping to the start screen
- Added sounds to goblins, hobgoblins, and the goblin warlords.
- Added new drops: Orcish Charm, Goblin Penny, Hobgoblin Iron
- Added new potions: Minor/Major Healing/Energy/Mana potions
- Changed the recipes for potions a bit
- Potions are now unlocked via alchemy
- Potions can now be crafted at different rarities
- Fixed some animation problems with the goblin warlord

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

To opt into Beta you only need to go to your Steam Library, right-click on Solace Crafting, select Properties, click on the Beta tab, and opt-in to the beta.

Follow development live on Twitch!
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Interested in supporting development of Solace Crafting?
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This patch adds the ability to increase and decrease global tree render distance for those that want to tweak the system in either direction, along with a variety of fixes for both single-player, multi-player, and some balancing.

v 0.7.0.23 2021.01.19 (beta v 0.7.1.3)
- Added tree render distance slider to video options
- Added more descriptions for how to transfer water between container
- Added Essence of Beast as uncommon drops to all animals
- Disabled the transfer buttons from improperly turning on with fluid containers
- World encounter resources are now checking for saved stats within an error margin of 1m instead of 0cm
- Changed some town building loading code, hopefully fixing disappearing buildings
- Fixed several errors caused by meeting another player within a world encounter
- Fixed a harmless error on dedicated servers
- Fixed a harmless error in the start menu when starting with a non-english language
- Fixed an error being thrown when loading tilled ground in some cases
- Fixed an unexpected error being thrown during facility interaction
- Fixed a harmless dedicated server specific Steam error during startup
- Fixed a harmless error when getting disconnected due to a server restart or kick
- Fixed "ResetPath" errors on monsters/animals when using charge and/or on death
- Fixed floating island temperature not working in single player
- Fixed farming planters not saving/loading properly on floating islands
- Fixed "harvest essence" via the radial menu not working in single player

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

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I added some quality of life tools as well as a number of fixes for problems that were reported.

I've also found a way to allow more control over tree quality that will allow users to turn up or down the level of detail distances that should offer some pretty serious performance improvement for those lower end systems that need every little bit. I wasn't able to patch it in today as there are some safety hooks I need to setup as it involves altering the original tree prefabs in runtime, changes that will persist even in the Unity editor while I'm testing them. I'm also looking into most likely doing away completely with a type of tree called SpeedTrees that I use quite a lot of, which, out of the box, are really just not cutting it.

v 0.7.0.22 2021.01.06 (beta v 0.7.1.1)
- Crosshair given an outline and a transparency setting under video settings
- Improved rain and snow collision
- Added a number of shadow quality control settings to the in-game video settings
- Fixed snow not colliding with anything
- Fixed world preview not showing up
- Fixed loading premade structures in caves not working
- Fixed Charge not stunning mobs
- Fixed watering cans throwing errors when filling or emptying them without opening them first
- Fixed equipped watering cans duplicating into the inventory when emptied or filled

You may need to restart Steam for the update to begin.

Follow development live on Twitch!
Join us in Discord!

Interested in supporting development of Solace Crafting?
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Check out the bug / suggestion tracker